About current languages

[Ildur]

I recently entered a discussion with some other people about if Eorzea has multiple languages or a single, unified one. I was wondering if anyone can provide a definite answer for it, since as far as I remember (which I only remember because it was brought to my attention during that discussion) from gameplay and reading dialogue, the only instance in which the existence of multiple human (ie. not beast-tribe) languages in Eorzea is this one line from Minifilia almost at the end of the vanilla storyline:



EDIT: Well, the image is pretty small. What she says is "There exist myriad barriers that divide us - those of race and nation, language and creed, to name but a few."

If a loremaster could provide an answer that would be really helpful. Thanks!

[Lusavari]

Really to step beyond the story, in order to explain your ability to understand all characters and not have any linguistics quests in the game, the developers of the original 1.0 version of the game decided to give you an ability called the echo. Part of the Echo is to allow you to understand all languages. I believe Minfillia mentions this in the 2.0 story. If you go read the thread "The True Nature of the Echo" many of your questions about this will be explained.

[Ildur]

Yes, but here's the problem: languages are never mentioned as a thing that exists beyond this one line (that isn't conclusive, as it's in the beggining of a motivational speech), and the Echo's handwave does nothing to stablish that the languages exist or how they are spread across the continent. The only purpose of the Echo truly serves practically (besides the foreshadowing) is to speak with the beast tribes, who are very clearly indicated as having their own languages. We never get any indication that, say, this is the case with Ishgard or Ul'dah. As far as the game bothers to show you, everyone speaks the same language and all evidence we have that they exist is Minifilia.

She might as well replace the word "languages" with "flying pigs" and it would have the same ammount of empirical (in-game) evidence.

[JeniLinsky]

I often find myself divided by flying pigs.

[JGwinters]

The only instance of different languages mentioned I can remember is the lalafell that finishes the initial Halatali quest, saying that it means something (I forget what) in the language of their ancestors who settled the place. It proves that at least once there was more than one language, although there's been plenty of time for them to unify into one since the lalafell came to Eorzea. Likewise, there is plenty of ancient writing systems, although in the current day only one seems to be in use.

[Kyan]

Hmm.

There are characters who clearly have accents in Eorzea, which could suggest that they speak another language (for example, the horde of phurble-puff-puff women from the brickman event speak with French accents).

There are mentions of several 'ancient' or 'old' languages in game, which have been replaced by the Eorzean tongue, including a Padjali language of all things. I am confused why Padjali would have a different language if they were just hyuran children transformed, but I digress.

[Holyhunter]

Roegadyn have (or had) their own language before they came to Eorzea. Sea Wolves' names are all based on it.

It even has a dictionary on the forums
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...dyn-Dictionary

[HumsterMKX]

Think of it as this way. Everyone speaks a common language. With themselves they speak their own language. Bstmen language might be totally different. But they somehow also know a bit of the common language. Thus is also able to communicate with others without the Echo ability.

[Kyan]

Roegadyn have (or had) their own language before they came to Eorzea. Sea Wolves' names are all based on it.

It even has a dictionary on the forums
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...dyn-Dictionary

And it could be assumed that Miqo'te had their own language, too, as the sounds of their language changed into match the Eorzean alphabet.

[Wolfandre]

It's interesting to note, as well, that everyone seems to be able to communicate with the beast tribes as well, as evidenced by the existence of Little Solace, among other NPCs having direct relationships with the beast tribes. If I remember correctly, in 1.0, beastmen speaking the common tongue was a rarity (and Spoken learning beast tribe languages was even more rare), and that's why you, having the Echo, were special. You could be a liaison where others could not. Now, having the Echo just seems to make you a Primal killer.

I have a feeling they ret-conned the languages part of the Echo for ARR and just made one unified Common that everyone knows and can speak at least on some level.